It was tricky getting into my trainers this morning… they were set like concrete from last weekend. Eventually I prevailed, but not for the first time in recent weeks I made a mental note that I needed to wash them!
The sun was out in force and the weather mild, so despite the general wetness of the ground I headed out to do my local circuit. The ground was a mat of leaves from now empty trees and this seemed to be soaking up some of the water… but not much. Within five minutes of leaving the house I could feel a tell-tale dampness on the back of my calves, the splattered mud already soaking through my running tights.
On days like today there is little point trying to skirt around the mud… safer to go straight through. The West Woods were sodden and squelchy but beautiful in the dappled sun. At one point I caught up with a couple who were out walking… they stood well back from the path as I splattered through, enjoying the mud but only on the outside of their Wellingtons’!
The magical path was just that and I decided to continue on down it rather than turn left across the Common.
I crossed over my outbound route at the Royal Oak and ran down past the simplest and most elegant church I know around here.
When I mentioned earlier that I intended to wash my trainers, I have envisaged doing so whilst my feet were not in them. But here in front of me the path had vanished under water and I had no option but to splash on through.
Now I was back onto paths that I used to frequent when I lived in my old house and soon enough I was running past it again… pleased to see that there was a sports car in the drive once more, even if the garden has been generally overgrown since I left.
A few minutes on the tarmac and I was home again, peeling off wet gear and finishing off the task of washing my trainers.
6.75 miles in 1:11 gives an average speed of 5.7 mph and a few pretty photos to boot (in reverse order for some reason!).
